Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1000 GMT, April 16

TOKYO -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday co-chaired the fourth high-level economic dialogue between China and Japan with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono here.

Wang said that the dialogue was restarted after an eight-year hiatus amid improvement in bilateral relationship.(Japan-China-Dialogue)

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TOKYO -- The names of 3,607 members of the Imperial Japanese Army's (IJA) clandestine Unit 731, known for conducting heinous live germ and chemical warfare experiments on thousands of Chinese victims, have been disclosed by the National Archives of Japan, a research professor said Monday.

"It is the first time that almost all the real names of the unit's members have been unveiled. We will post them on the website so they can be utilized for research," Katsuo Nishiyama, professor emeritus of Shiga University of Medical Science, told a press briefing on the matter Monday.(Japan-War crimes)

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TOKYO -- Japanese Vice Finance Minister Junichi Fukuda on Monday denied a report that he had sexually harassed female reporters.

Fukuda's denial follows the weekly Shukan Shincho magazine reporting in its Thursday edition that he made remarks to female reporters while drinking that were overtly sexual in nature.(Japan-Vice minister)

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KABUL -- The armed opposition groups in Afghanistan in a new tactic have obviously aimed their gun to education and have torched at least three schools in the insurgency-plagued country over the past week.

In the latest attack on school, the unidentified armed militants targeted a primary school in Mohmandara district of the eastern Nangarhar early Sunday and damaged parts of the school including burning textbooks.(Afghanistan-Militants-Schools)

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SEOUL -- South Korea held a nationwide mourning on Monday over the victims of the sunken ferry Sewol in 2014.

The memorial service, led by the government to mark the fourth anniversary of the tragedy, was held at a group incense altar in Ansan, outside of Seoul, local TV footage showed.(S.Korea-Mourning-Tragedy)

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NEW DELHI -- India's Andhra Pradesh came to a standstill Monday in the wake of a day-long shutdown called by opposition parties-backed people's forum in demand for special status for the southern state from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

Most of the busy roads in large parts of the state almost wore a deserted look as schools, colleges and offices have been shut and bus services suspended across Andhra Pradesh.(India-State shutdown) Enditem